Mike McCready on Alice in Chains: “’Bout time they made the Hall of Fame”

Pearl Jam’s legendary guitarist didn’t hold back: Alice in Chains belongs in the Hall, no question.

Speaking with ABC Audio on the red carpet of the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, McCready made it clear he thinks it’s a total miss that Alice in Chains still isn’t in there. “Alice is one of the bands that came up with all of us. They… kinda hit first out of everyone,” he said, as Yahoo reported.

He also looked back at the early days on the road, when Pearl Jam were just starting out and opening for AIC on the West Coast. “We went on tour with them early on opening up for Alice and down the West Coast and had all sorts of crazy stuff going on,” McCready laughed. “It was fun.”

Out on the carpet, he kept it real simple: “They’re a fuckin’ great band.”. 

Alice in Chains were a cornerstone of the grunge movement, helping shape an entire decade of rock. Their 1990 debut Facelift was the first grunge record ever to go RIAA Gold — long before albums like Nevermind or Badmotorfinger blew up.

With that kind of legacy, their absence from the Rock Hall still feels pretty wild.

Of the so-called Big 4 of Seattle grunge, AIC are the only band not inducted yet. Nirvana got in back in 2014, Pearl Jam in 2017, and this year it was Soundgarden’s turn — with McCready and Jerry Cantrell even jamming together during the ceremony.

With McCready speaking out loud and clear, the conversation around Alice in Chains finally getting their spot in the Hall is heating up again. The case is solid: history, influence, impact, and straight-up greatness. If the Hall is listening, the message couldn’t be clearer.

And now, since it just hit the big 3-0, let’s all crank up Alice in Chains’ self-titled album, dropped on October 31, 1995 — on vinyl first, and a week later on cassette and CD.